vertical search

Why Google 'vertical' search shouldn't face antitrust action

It's likely we'll finally see the U.S. Federal Trade Commission make a decision on whether to take antitrust action against Google in the coming days. Among the charges is the idea that Google somehow is being unfair to competitors with "vertical" search. That has been, and remains largely to me, a laughable argument.

If the FTC did take action on this issue, it would be punishing Google for doing exactly what a good search engine should do.

Make no mistake. There are issues where Google deserves some antitrust attention. But vertical search isn't one … Read more

Google may face antitrust probes in Ohio, Wisconsin

Google could find itself the target of two separate antitrust probes launched by Ohio and Wisconsin, according to a story published today by Bloomberg.

Concerned over the search giant's business practices, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is "evaluating the facts to determine if it's something we want to review," his spokesman Dan Tierney told Bloomberg.

Tierney confirmed the information to CNET, saying that the attorney general's office is "reviewing the facts regarding the matter to determine if there's any action that needs to be taken."

Asked if the attorney general is looking … Read more

Oxynade picks up funding for events database

Belgium-based Oxynade announced Tuesday that it's picked up a 1 million Euro series A round of funding led by investment group Arkafund along with Vinnof.

The company's current consumer service is a search engine for events called Happenr. It crawls sites for names, dates, addresses any any other information, and puts it in an index that can be searched and sorted. This is connected to a ticket-purchasing service, so users are able to browse and buy tickets to these events right from the site.

Happenr also has an API and a new iPhone app, with the former being … Read more